A friend of mine - we’ll call her Ellen - who teaches sixth graders stopped by recently for advice.
She was excited that for the first time in years, she suddenly had the chance to teach art in her classroom. I helped her choose an art lesson, collect supplies, and offered a few pointers on how to teach her class.
A few weeks later Ellen returned to show me the art her students had done. As she pulled out a magnificent collection of student work, she was nearly crying, not from frustration but from joy over what had happened in her art class.
“You have no idea,” she said, “what a gift these art classes have been! For the first time, these kids weren’t told exactly what to do, and they were terrified.
Suddenly they had to make some choices, and it scared them. For the first time, they had to come up with their own solution.
Ellen went on, "But they learned that they could SOLVE a problem. That’s why these art classes are such a gift.”
She's right. Art classes set us up for a struggle. We don't know the answer until we've discovered it ourselves. And when we've made that discovery, we learn that we CAN solve problems on our own.
Learn more about how to set up an art class so that it becomes a productive struggle with free teaching tips here.
Then get your students started on art lessons with these FREE art lessons for kids.
A friend of mine - we’ll call her Ellen - who teaches sixth graders stopped by recently for advice.
She was excited that for the first time in years, she suddenly had the chance to teach art in her classroom. I helped her choose an art lesson, collect supplies, and offered a few pointers on how to teach her class.
A few weeks later Ellen returned to show me the art her students had done. As she pulled out a magnificent collection of student work, she was nearly crying, not from frustration but from joy over what had happened in her art class.
“You have no idea,” she said, “what a gift these art classes have been! For the first time, these kids weren’t told exactly what to do, and they were terrified.
Suddenly they had to make some choices, and it scared them. For the first time, they had to come up with their own solution.
Ellen went on, "But they learned that they could SOLVE a problem. That’s why these art classes are such a gift.”
She's right. Art classes set us up for a struggle. We don't know the answer until we've discovered it ourselves. And when we've made that discovery, we learn that we CAN solve problems on our own.
Learn more about how to set up an art class so that it becomes a productive struggle with free teaching tips here.
Then get your students started on art lessons with these FREE art lessons for kids.
A friend of mine - we’ll call her Ellen - who teaches sixth graders stopped by recently for advice.
She was excited that for the first time in years, she suddenly had the chance to teach art in her classroom. I helped her choose an art lesson, collect supplies, and offered a few pointers on how to teach her class.
A few weeks later Ellen returned to show me the art her students had done. As she pulled out a magnificent collection of student work, she was nearly crying, not from frustration but from joy over what had happened in her art class.
“You have no idea,” she said, “what a gift these art classes have been! For the first time, these kids weren’t told exactly what to do, and they were terrified.
Suddenly they had to make some choices, and it scared them. For the first time, they had to come up with their own solution.
Ellen went on, "But they learned that they could SOLVE a problem. That’s why these art classes are such a gift.”
She's right. Art classes set us up for a struggle. We don't know the answer until we've discovered it ourselves. And when we've made that discovery, we learn that we CAN solve problems on our own.
Learn more about how to set up an art class so that it becomes a productive struggle with free teaching tips here.
Then get your students started on art lessons with these FREE art lessons for kids.
